When it comes to analysing social dynamics, cultural change and the values of a given era, what better observation point is there than buddy movies and, more generally, films about friendship, given that this comedy subgenre’s fundamental focus is depicting human relationships? After his impressive debut in 2016 with The Last Prosecco [+lire aussi :
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critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] in 2019 - which competed in Turin where its two actors Giuseppe Battiston and Stefano Fresi both tied to win Best Actor - Antonio Padovan’s new film, Come fratelli, is no exception to this idea of friendship as a driver for personal growth and overcoming hardship. In fact, Il grande passo, with its poetic Spielbergesque depiction of the relationship between two dissimilar brothers, appears to have been a test bed for Come fratelli, which is hitting Italian cinemas on 26 June via 01 Distribution, followings its premiere out of competition at the Taormina Film Festival.

Set in Treviso, the film actually opens with a female friendship between Melissa (Paola Buratto) and Sabrina (Mariana Lancellotti), who are both expecting sons, who go into labour on the same day, and who finally treat themselves to a night out clubbing (slightly dazed and confused) some time later, leaving their newborns Michele and Samuele at home with their dads Giorgio (Francesco Centorame) and Alessandro (Pierpaolo Spollon). A sudden, tragic accident tears the two young mums from this world, but the film’s intention to remain within the confines of comedy is emphasised by the dark, red-framed, women’s glasses worn by anti-conformist Alessandro to their funerals. Now it’s time for them to grieve for their partners and change dozens of nappies for two constantly crying babies. Three months later comes the question: why not live together and help one another with life and work (Alessandro works from home as a physiotherapist while Giorgio directs a museum dedicated to Antonio Canova)? Four years later, the two boys treat the two dads like a set of parents, offering a brilliant depiction of how a family with parents of the same sex can provide a stable, loving and functional environment. A plot-twist halfway through the film answers the audience’s question over whether the two friends’ relationship is based on some kind of latent homosexuality: after four years of grief and strict celibacy, Giorgio has fallen in love with Nöel (Ludovica Martino, Il mio posto è qui), the female doctoral student he works with at the museum, and wants to move in with her. Alessandro is floored by this news, both the prospect of separating the two children and of a symbiotic daily routine being reduced to occasional reciprocal visits.

Antonio Padovan draws heavily on his New York film studies and his lengthy experience in the world of advertising spent between the USA, Europe and Asia, having turned Martino Coli’s well-calibrated and lively screenplay into a fast-paced film without any kind of downtime; a movie which seems straightforward but which is incredibly rich in humanity. The director is particularly shrewd in how he directs the two protagonists, drawing out Alessandro’s eccentric sweetness and thoughtfulness and the awkwardness of virtuous Giorgio, and explaining the origins of their friendship by way of a flashback. It all makes for a wonderfully tender film which breaks the mould of young Italian comedy and which highlights what Jacques Derrida identified as the peculiar beating heart of friendship, marked by tension between the desire for absolute closeness and being wholly open towards the other, and awareness of the potential for separation and loss. At a time when individualism reigns supreme, friendship is a promise we give each another for the duration, a kind of faith in the other built to withstand even grief and distance.

Come fratelli was produced by Pepito Produzioni together with RAI Cinema.